Chinese Manufacturing May Make Solar Cheaper Than Ever
getsolar.com
Bloomberg published an analysis of the solar industry on Friday, looking at the complex intersection of politics, business and environmentalismthat characterizes the field. The biggest solar facility in the U.S., it points out, is a New Jersey solar installation at Rutgers University’sLivingston campus.
All of the 7,600 panels, though, were sourcedfrom Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE), which will be familiar to viewersof the World Cup thanks to the company’s massive advertising presencethere.
"It’s all about economics," Al Buckman of SunDuranceEnergy, a New Jersey solar installer, told Bloomberg News. Buckman isthe CEO of SunDurance and chose Yingli because of its competitiveprices.
Large-scale Chinese manufacturing, Bloomberg suggests, is bringing about a revolution in the manufacturing of solar arrays andpanels. Just as formerly luxury devices like flat-screen TVs and laptops [extra space] have now become widespread, solar panels could end upbecoming commonplace thanks to economies of scale delivered by Chinesemanufacturers.
Those factories shipped 3,300 megawatts of solarpanel capacity to the U.S. last year, for total sales of $6.6 billion.The low prices and enormous volume may squeeze some producers, but theconsumer ends up benefiting as it is cheaper than ever to install solarpanels on homes.
